According to last Tuesday’s Irish Times, the following appears in an unpublished draft of the HSE’s spending plans.
“It is planned that the investment will take place in quarter 4, 2013 contingent upon the achievement of the PSA [public sector agreement] savings. A ceiling uplift is needed for these developments,” – http://irishtimes.newspaperdirect.com/screenprint/viewer.aspx

“A ceiling uplift”!! Jesus wept! Now, this kind of complete bollocks might be funny if it were not indicative of a parasitic scourge which prevents effective management. The parasitic element is usually distinguished from management by use of the term “managerialism”.

Whoever wrote the HSE draft should go and anyone more senior, who did not fire the draft across the room and insist that it be rewritten, should join him or her. Furthermore, the report itself should be disregarded because – being infected by managerialism – it will be self-serving. Its purpose will not be to improve the HSE or to serve the citizen. Managerialism doesn’t work like that; it uses a language deceptively close to the language of efficiency and business to ensure the prosperity and growth of its adherents.

To get a hold in an organisation, managerialism must first oust efficient managers; it is no friend of business. The bizarre language that is used cloaks futile activity in terms that give the impression of innovation, progress and effective decision making. It also creates a layer of employees who live off information processes that effective management would never tolerate. It is a very, very serious problem and dealing with will be difficult because its adherents now hold key positions and because doing away with it would result in many job losses.

However, many organisations could usefully look at their structures and staffing of about ten years ago and see what has been done to them as systems became central rather than service, as job titles increased and became bizarre, and as the language of effective management was reduced to complete bollocks.